Mt 11 2-11
At that time, John, who was in prison, having heard of the works of Christ, sent to tell him by his disciples, "Art thou he that should come, or we look for another?". Jesus said, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached, and blessed is he who takes no offense at me. "
As they departed, Jesus began to speak to the multitudes concerning John: "What did you go to see in the desert? A reed shaken by the wind? What did you go see? A man clothed in soft garments? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses
So, what did you go see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thee, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
In truth I tell you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
COMMENT
John, who has leaped in the womb of his mother on hearing the voice Mary pregnant with Jesus, sees rise in the heart of the question that sums up the dilemma of existence. "Art thou he that should come or do we look for another?". In prison for Truth, John does not Truth is sure of itself. Chained to an ad, ask me about the One who has announced. John, as each of us that we have announced many times the Gospel, he needs to hear again the ad. Even John "faith comes from hearing" (fides ex auditu : Rm 10:17) . Gi ovanni , the envoy, the messenger, the angel of the desert, as is shown by such iconography, the precursor, the preacher needs to hear the preaching. John gave his life to a mission, every inch modeled by his feet, every moment of its existence was made ad. His clothes, his food, his words, the very place of his life, everything has been seized and turned into prophecy. How's life every prophet, an apostle completely coincides with the object of prophecy and proclamation.
But John is in prison because of the prophetic words of truth he had announced. The prison is a metaphor for his own life. Chained to the word is separated from the world. Like St. Paul's experience that even if his life is stripped of all freedom, the word is not chained and the chains are proof. E ' the experience of every apostle, of every Christian martyr of the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ apart from the world, sometimes in chains, crucifix, unable to live like everybody else. Enemy of the world is rejected, condemned and thrown into prison. No covenant between Christ and Belial, between God and the world.
E 'the experience of young Christians who have overcome the evil and some are strong, but they feel pressure on the skin and bones, the weight of the chains, looking at the sky through the bars, and the world seems to run inexorably leaving out their lives rotting in prison. Often, the truth seems to have chained the joys, passions, the poetry of life and existence seized from a proclamation of freedom seems to pay off in a cell. The chains tighten the sexual drives that pushes the world to follow, the door blocks the way for clubs and concerts are crowded with young people, these four walls, remove the air. And grateful that this life seems like a cloistered convent, even the simple things sometimes seem stolen, friendships, sports, entertainment, everything like the sky and narrowly tailored to squares that appear behind the barred window. The world outside running free and happy, and I, Christian, drowned in prayers and celebrations, and everything gets out of hand in a life so different, so gray and insignificant, forgotten in a cell that seems to oppress and steal the most beautiful years.
So is the life of every Christian, like that of John the Baptist. And the question that rises from the heart of bullying. E 'is the truth? It 'really Him, Jesus, the Savior, the Messiah? E 'him the joy, peace, the sense, the fullness of my life? And 'Him to my righteousness, the One who redeems and renews my feelings, thoughts, words and actions? And 'he who awaits my eager heart of freedom and happiness? And 'Him or do I wait for someone else, something else? And if so, if it was not him, if it was all a hoax, a dream, an illusion, drug opium for the people? If so this prison would be a monstrosity, I given my life to the wrong person, I would follow a perverse chimera.
You are the Beloved of my heart, it's you or should I wait? There are times that I can not own, everything seems to be crashing around me, the weight of this imprisoned life becomes unbearable, I do not see the sky, and the hope is taken away if the wind. I prayed, as announced, but now they are here, within these four walls, and nothing makes more sense. And this life of a prophet I have not chosen me, the family, the circumstances, someone has stuck on me and, anyway, nothing will be different. Even choosing to live differently, also according to the flesh and the world, will always carry the mark of intimacy this life, the words I've heard of the signs I've seen. are marked, are not and never shall be free, the weights of this election will not leave me again! And I did not want me in this life, evangelism, Christian living upstream, lost his life for those who may not care at all, just want a quiet life, perhaps even according to the Gospel, but shocked to the point of going to jail and, as happened San Pietro, another to lead me where I do not want , no! I can not. I need to know if it's you or if I should wait for someone else!
The Lord replies to this crucial question exactly how he responded to John. Leave His Church, the witnesses who have seen the Word incarnate in the signs made by him. In Scripture, the Messiah was announced by signs, made, it will identify its presence. There are signs of recognition, fingerprint of the Messiah. They are his own works, because "wisdom is justified of her works." Conventional signs, undeniable and unmistakable, and the signs performed by Jesus, they indicate the Sky, a power that spans the wall of human possibilities, " The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf regained their hearing, the dead are raised. "In the prison of the flesh shining power of the Spirit. In the desert, water, light in darkness, life into death. A love stronger than sin, the flesh of the world. peace, joy , the sense, the fullness in a cramped prison cell .
Then we discover, like John, that those signs are the same made in each of us. We find that the infinite love of God has been with us since the foundation of the world, right into the bosom of our mother. We find that mercy has brought us into the desert to prepare for a mission unavoidable. We discover that forgiveness has snatched from the harsh law of slavery which he had subdued the flesh with its lusts. We discover to be saved a thousand times when we were right in front of a firing squad with rifles loaded and ready to fire. Discovering of having been pardoned and returned to real life. We discover that you have not tasted what it means to live for themselves and the infinite joy of giving life. We find his fingerprints companies in our stories.
But often this is not enough. Miracles and signs are an ad, a passage to something infinitely greater. Stop signs is to rejoice for a gift card and forget about the gift. The signs we are filling, but still have hunger. For this reason it is not uncommon after welcoming the signs of the Messiah, I reject the heart, the essential work and decisive. We cringe. Della Croce. Crucified the flesh, of a love that shakes. The signs are preparing for the advent of the crucified Lord, His Cross, the very real very real in our lives.
And it is the time of the experience of Peter, the apostles, Jonah and Elijah, and the question comes back to visit us arrogant. Slamming on the Cross returns the doubt, and with it the anxiety of having the wrong person. E 'scandal that Jesus had prophesied to all disciples the night he was handed. Shocked and lost. And 'This is the underlying reason for all our suffering. The prison in which it seems our fallen Life is the contrast that highlights certain the outbreak of cancer that is eating us away: the scandal of the Cross. The poison that infects the thoughts and words is the inability to accept the way to Calvary, rejection, suffering, death. And, like Peter, we become outraged scandal, stumbling to understand the work of Peter after Jesus, knowing their hearts to recognize the fact that pasta is the heart of God Jesus loves him and look where it meets. Risen Christ, his face, his hands and his side were wounded signs of a love without limits. A love to smash the heart and mind. A love that shocked.
For this reason, as John, We need someone we love this ad and proclaim again, the cross and the resurrection of the Lord, the only password that can open up your heart and fill it with joy, peace, meaning and hope. We need preaching that the sky opens and it has under the Spirit, which seals the forgiveness of sins, Christ's victory, his eyes pointed straight at the mercy of my heart. " Because it can evangelize and evangelize, the priest, as the church must grow in awareness of its standing in need of evangelization" ( John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation (1992), Pastores Dabo vobis 26.47).
encounter with this love, then we discover the deeper meaning of our life. 'we are waiting for him. And 'Him, we have no wrong. And 'Him the password can open our hearts to welcome the peace and joy. And 'He knows us all the way, who loves us where and how we are: he is reaching down to afratti hidden in our hearts, where lurk the worst thoughts and desires, the ones that come to light if we would be rejected by all like mangy dogs. And 'he who is not offended by us, who forgives, who welcomes us and turns. And 'he who makes our life a prophecy living life stronger than death. And 'he who makes us a sign of Heaven in the night. And 'he who lights up the prison of a pure light that enlightens every chain, every fear, every doubt, every lonely, and as an archaeological buried for thousands of years, it brings to light the forms and the secret meaning. And 'he who opens our eyes, and the prison becomes the most beautiful place, the bed where we love marries his love, the city on the hill, the Glorious Cross, the place where he shines the life in death. We should not wait any more. He, the smallest of the small, smallness has made the place of the Glory of God in him, both small and helpless, chained and oppressed, we are free and happy, the largest the Kingdom of Heaven, the largest the size of the Baptist. Largest of Prophecy fermatasi on the threshold of fulfillment. John Christ announced, we embody announcing Heaven down to Earth, the Kingdom is open to every man .
A child placed in the squalor of a manger. In this we are preparing at this time, to meet the unexpected, like a palace to a prison, because I live by the King of kings. Re A child who is salvation, a child born to the Cross. His manger and His Cross are there in our prisons, in our difficult times, where we play our happiness. Blessed if we do not cringe of a God who loves us more than ever in our bitter tears. Happy are we if we welcome it will go there, there where we may want to erase everything. With him, you do not throw anything, everything is holy. And blessed are our eyes that now meet his love. This Advent is a bliss: Preparing for the Cross.
Gospel of Matthew 11:2-11.
J ohn the Baptist heard in prison the works of Christ, and sent two of his disciples to ask:
"Are you the one to come or should we expect another?".
Jesus replied: "Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind see and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead rise and the Good News is preached to the poor.
And happy one for whom I am not a stumbling block! ".
While the messengers of John were leaving, Jesus began to speak him to the crowd, saying: "What went to the desert?" A reed shaken by the wind?
What came to see? a man dressed in refinement? Those who dress this way live in the palaces of kings.
went to see what then? A prophet? I tell you yes, and more than a prophet.
He is the one of whom is written, I send my messenger ahead of you, to prepare the road.
I assure you that no man not born greater than John the Baptist, and yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
COMMENT
John, who has jumped into the lap of his mother when he heard the voice of Mary pregnant with Jesus, sees rise in heart the question that sums up the dilemma of existence. "Art thou to come or should we expect someone else? ." In jail for Truth, John is not sure of the truth itself. Bound by a notice on the confirmation question that has been announced. Juan, as each of us that have preached the gospel many times, you need to hear again the ad. Also for John's faith is born of "listening" ("fides ex auditu": Rm 10.17). Giovanni, the messenger, the messenger, the angel of the desert as much iconography is represented by the precursor, the preacher needs to hear the preaching. John has given his life to a mission every inch trodden by his feet, every moment of its existence has been announced. His clothes, his food, his words, the very place of his life, everything has been seized and turned into prophecy. The life of a prophet, an apostle in complete agreement with the object of prophecy and the ad.
But Juan is in jail because of the prophetic words of truth he announced. The prison is a metaphor for life itself. Chained to the Word is from the world. How St Paul's experience that even though his life is stripped of every freedom, the word is not chained. Is the experience of each apostle, of every Christian, martyr of the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. Separated from the world, sometimes bound, crucifijcado, unable to live like the others. Enemy of this world is rejected, condemned, thrown into prison. No covenant between Christ and Belial, between God and the world.
San Cirillo d'Alessandria (380-444), Vescovo e Dottore della Chiesa
Christological dialogue Primo, 706, SC 97, 27
"He who comes after me is mightier than me: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire "(Mt 3, 11). We will say perhaps that the work of baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire is similar to our humanity? How could it be? Yet, speaking of a man who has yet to learn fate, John declares that he called "the Holy Spirit and fire." Not transmitting to a spirit that would not be baptized her as a servant could have done any, but as one who is God by nature, and gives it a sovereign power that comes from him and he belongs on his own. For this grace, the divine imprint is imprinted in us.
In fact, Jesus Christ, are changed, similar to the image made divine, not because our bodies were formed again, but because receiving the Holy Spirit, we could just get hold of Christ, to the point you can cry now, in our joy, "My soul rejoices in the Lord, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation" (Is 61:10). In fact, the Apostle Paul says "How many have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Gal 3:27).
Perhaps you were baptized in a man? Silence, you who are only human, maybe you want to lower it to ground our hope? We were baptized in a God made man he freed from their suffering and their sins, who believe in him. "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ ... and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). Those that bind to untie him ... It's spring in us by nature ... The Spirit properly belong to the Son, who became a man like us. In fact, he la vita รจ di tutto quanto esiste.
Sermon on the Holy Theophany, PG 10, 852
"No one born of woman greater than John the Baptist, although the smallest in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" revere the
compassion of a God who has come to save and not to judge the world. John, the forerunner of the Master, who had hitherto ignored this mystery, when he heard that Jesus was truly the Lord, loudly told those who came to be baptized, "" brood of vipers "(Mt 3.6), Why look at me so strongly? I am not the Christ. I am a servant and not the Lord. I am a simple subject, not the king. I am a sheep, not the pastor. I am a man, not God. Coming into the world of infertility has been cured of my mother, I have not been fruitful virginity, I have been out of the low, I have not fallen from the heights. I have attached the language of my father (Lk 1.20), I have not displayed the grace of God ... I mean little, but after me comes he who is before me (Jn 1.30). Comes later in time, but before, was inaccessible and ineffable light of divinity. 'He comes who is mightier than I, and not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire "(Mt 3.11). I am a subordinate, he is free. I am subject to sin, he destroys sin. I teach law, he brings the light of grace. I preach as a slave, the legislation as a teacher. I have to layer the sun, it's heaven. I baptize with the baptism of penance, he gives the grace of adoption. 'He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. " Why I want to revere? I am not the Christ. "
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